Desktop Support Contract Job Trends

Desktop Support
UK

The median Desktop Support daily rate in the UK is £175, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 23 February 2026.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 381 325 300
Rank change year-on-year -56 -25 +18
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 235 210 325
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.58% 0.69% 0.73%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.63% 0.74% 0.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 168 134 233
10th Percentile £150 £150 £126
25th Percentile £155 £174 £143
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £175 £200 £200
Median % change year-on-year -12.50% - -
75th Percentile £223 £238 £223
90th Percentile £275 £269 £286
UK excluding London median daily rate £175 £200 £200
% change year-on-year -12.50% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 42 17 21
10th Percentile £16.27 £17.55 £18.93
25th Percentile £19.54 £21.25 £20.00
Median hourly rate £20.18 £23.00 £24.86
Median % change year-on-year -12.26% -7.46% +32.56%
75th Percentile £21.46 £27.25 £30.25
90th Percentile £31.40 £30.68 £31.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.91 £23.00 £24.25
% change year-on-year -13.43% -5.15% +38.57%

All Contract IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 37,309 28,353 41,398
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.77% 92.89% 93.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,419 17,689 27,239
10th Percentile £306 £291 £275
25th Percentile £406 £406 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £719 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +1.05% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,278 825 2,334
10th Percentile £14.61 £16.25 £13.15
25th Percentile £18.87 £21.46 £16.30
Median hourly rate £31.76 £35.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -9.27% - -12.01%
75th Percentile £63.75 £64.50 £60.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £75.00 £72.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.00 £32.50 £35.80
% change year-on-year -7.69% -9.22% -0.98%

Desktop Support
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Desktop Support' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Desktop Support job vacancy trend in the UK

Desktop Support
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK

Desktop Support
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Desktop Support over the 6 months to 23 February 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK

Desktop Support
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Desktop Support over the 6 months to 23 February 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Desktop Support within the UK over the 6 months to 23 February 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England -41 220 £195 -4.88% 23
UK excluding London -34 182 £175 -12.50% 19
London -46 51 £201 +0.25% 8
Midlands -26 42 £175 -14.63% 2
North of England -39 39 £175 -16.17% 5
East of England -6 34 £195 -7.14% 2
South West -14 31 £250 +11.11% 4
East Midlands -1 29 £175 -17.65% 2
South East -42 24 £172 -12.05% 6
North West -24 19 £175 -16.67% 3
Work from Home -3 15 £163 -46.28% 5
West Midlands -54 13 £175 -12.50%
North East -10 11 £175 +12.90% 1
Wales +1 10 £160 -
Yorkshire -56 9 £206 -7.30% 2
Scotland -4 4 £166 +10.50% 1
Northern Ireland -7 1 £150 -

Desktop Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 23 February 2026, Desktop Support contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring Desktop Support in the job title.

1 141 (60.00%) Windows
2 108 (45.96%) Microsoft 365
3 90 (38.30%) Microsoft
4 84 (35.74%) Active Directory
5 82 (34.89%) Customer Service
6 79 (33.62%) Windows 10
7 72 (30.64%) Security Cleared
8 71 (30.21%) SC Cleared
9 56 (23.83%) Microsoft Office
10 42 (17.87%) Mac OS
11 41 (17.45%) Azure
12 40 (17.02%) Android
13 36 (15.32%) Cisco
14 35 (14.89%) ITIL
15 34 (14.47%) SLA
16 33 (14.04%) HP
16 33 (14.04%) Microsoft Intune
16 33 (14.04%) Wireless
17 32 (13.62%) Business Intelligence
17 32 (13.62%) Digital Marketing
17 32 (13.62%) Programme Management
17 32 (13.62%) SAP
18 31 (13.19%) Apple
18 31 (13.19%) SCCM
19 30 (12.77%) Dell
19 30 (12.77%) Service Management
20 29 (12.34%) Microsoft Exchange
21 28 (11.91%) Migration
22 26 (11.06%) Service Delivery
22 26 (11.06%) ServiceNow

Desktop Support Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 29 (12.34%) Microsoft Exchange
2 24 (10.21%) SharePoint
Applications
1 56 (23.83%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (6.38%) Microsoft Excel
2 15 (6.38%) Spreadsheet
3 1 (0.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (0.85%) assyst
2 1 (0.43%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 108 (45.96%) Microsoft 365
2 41 (17.45%) Azure
3 18 (7.66%) OneDrive
4 11 (4.68%) Entra ID
5 4 (1.70%) Google Ads
6 3 (1.28%) Google Workspace
6 3 (1.28%) Slack
7 1 (0.43%) Google Drive
Communications & Networking
1 33 (14.04%) Wireless
2 18 (7.66%) VPN
3 13 (5.53%) PABX
4 11 (4.68%) DNS
5 9 (3.83%) DHCP
5 9 (3.83%) TCP/IP
6 8 (3.40%) Cisco IOS
6 8 (3.40%) Skype
7 4 (1.70%) Structured Cabling
8 3 (1.28%) Softphone
8 3 (1.28%) Wi-Fi
9 2 (0.85%) Firewall
9 2 (0.85%) LAN
9 2 (0.85%) Telepresence
9 2 (0.85%) Unified Communications
10 1 (0.43%) IPv4
10 1 (0.43%) Network Security
10 1 (0.43%) VLAN
10 1 (0.43%) VoIP
10 1 (0.43%) WAN
Development Applications
1 3 (1.28%) JIRA
General
1 100 (42.55%) Social Skills
2 59 (25.11%) Finance
3 36 (15.32%) Public Sector
4 35 (14.89%) Telecoms
5 32 (13.62%) Electronics
5 32 (13.62%) Manufacturing
5 32 (13.62%) Marketing
6 24 (10.21%) Analytical Skills
7 9 (3.83%) Retail
8 7 (2.98%) Aerospace
8 7 (2.98%) Banking
9 6 (2.55%) Documentation Skills
9 6 (2.55%) Law
10 4 (1.70%) Organisational Skills
11 3 (1.28%) Pharmaceutical
12 2 (0.85%) Investment Banking
12 2 (0.85%) Legal
13 1 (0.43%) Financial Institution
13 1 (0.43%) Front Office
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.43%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 29 (12.34%) Smartphone
2 27 (11.49%) Self-Motivation
3 25 (10.64%) Data Centre
4 12 (5.11%) Onboarding
5 10 (4.26%) Mobile App
6 8 (3.40%) Hybrid Cloud
6 8 (3.40%) Management Information System
7 6 (2.55%) Video Conferencing
8 5 (2.13%) Enterprise Software
8 5 (2.13%) Virtual Team
9 3 (1.28%) Hedge funds
9 3 (1.28%) iPad
9 3 (1.28%) iPhone
10 2 (0.85%) Driving Licence
10 2 (0.85%) Tandem
11 1 (0.43%) Augmented Reality
11 1 (0.43%) BYOD
11 1 (0.43%) Data Protection Act
11 1 (0.43%) Legacy Systems
11 1 (0.43%) Virtual Reality
Operating Systems
1 141 (60.00%) Windows
2 79 (33.62%) Windows 10
3 42 (17.87%) Mac OS
4 40 (17.02%) Android
5 19 (8.09%) Apple iOS
6 10 (4.26%) Windows Server
7 6 (2.55%) Windows 7
8 4 (1.70%) Windows 8
9 1 (0.43%) Linux
9 1 (0.43%) Windows Server 2012
9 1 (0.43%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 82 (34.89%) Customer Service
2 35 (14.89%) ITIL
3 32 (13.62%) Business Intelligence
3 32 (13.62%) Digital Marketing
3 32 (13.62%) Programme Management
4 30 (12.77%) Service Management
5 28 (11.91%) Migration
6 26 (11.06%) Service Delivery
7 22 (9.36%) Problem-Solving
8 19 (8.09%) Continuous Improvement
8 19 (8.09%) ITSM
9 18 (7.66%) Time Management
10 16 (6.81%) Inventory Management
11 14 (5.96%) Incident Management
11 14 (5.96%) Logistics
11 14 (5.96%) Mobile Device Management
11 14 (5.96%) Workflow
12 13 (5.53%) Asset Management
12 13 (5.53%) Patch Management
13 10 (4.26%) Computer Science
Programming Languages
1 20 (8.51%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.43%) Python
Qualifications
1 72 (30.64%) Security Cleared
2 71 (30.21%) SC Cleared
3 15 (6.38%) Degree
4 11 (4.68%) ITIL Certification
5 6 (2.55%) A+ Certification
6 3 (1.28%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 2 (0.85%) Computer Science Degree
7 2 (0.85%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 34 (14.47%) SLA
2 7 (2.98%) GDPR
3 2 (0.85%) QA
System Software
1 84 (35.74%) Active Directory
2 13 (5.53%) Virtual Desktop
3 4 (1.70%) Firmware
4 1 (0.43%) VMware ESXi
4 1 (0.43%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.43%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 33 (14.04%) Microsoft Intune
2 31 (13.19%) SCCM
3 2 (0.85%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 90 (38.30%) Microsoft
2 36 (15.32%) Cisco
3 33 (14.04%) HP
4 32 (13.62%) SAP
5 31 (13.19%) Apple
6 30 (12.77%) Dell
7 26 (11.06%) ServiceNow
8 5 (2.13%) McAfee
8 5 (2.13%) Remedy
9 4 (1.70%) Google
10 3 (1.28%) Bloomberg
10 3 (1.28%) Starlink
11 1 (0.43%) Altiris
11 1 (0.43%) Barracuda Networks
11 1 (0.43%) Citrix
11 1 (0.43%) CrowdStrike
11 1 (0.43%) Salesforce
11 1 (0.43%) SolarWinds
11 1 (0.43%) Veeam
11 1 (0.43%) VMware